Planners are requesting that studies on parking requirements and on commercial rezoning along a part of Airline Drive be extended an additional six months
The Jefferson Parish Council Wednesday is set to consider extending two zoning studies that imposed temporary parking requirements for small businesses parishwide and a moratorium on commercial development in a section of Airline Drive in Metairie. Planners are requesting that the studies and restrictions, which the council authorized for a year last December, be extended an additional six months -- the maximum authorized by parish law.
The extensions are among dozens of items on the agenda for today's council meeting. The council is also expected to postpone a vote on new requirements for electronic business signs. The council is also also set to vote on requests by the administration to double the potential value of existing contracts for tree removal and streetlight work, raising the contracts' limits by a combined $4.5 million.
The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Kenner City Council chambers, 1801 Williams Blvd. It's the first time the Parish Council is set to meet in Jefferson's largest municipality.
Parish planning director Terri Wilkinson said her department is asking for an extension of a study on parking requirements for so-called "small-scale" retail and service businesses. The category includes establishments with an area of less than 15,000 square feet, which have parking standards that were originally set in the 1960s, she said.
The parish reviewed parking standards in Metairie's Fat City in recent years, as part of the effort to beautify and revitalize that area. Wilkinson said the changes there prompted the parishwide review. While the study is completed, the parish set temporary standards requiring new small retailers to have one parking space available for every 600 square foot of building area. That standard would continue if the council extends the study.
In suburban Jefferson Parish, where the vehicle is king, parking requirements often prompted gripes from developers trying to maximize their investment by providing as little parking as possible. Wilkinson said the ongoing review may raise parking requirements in some cases, but she said it may also reduce them in others. She noted, for example, that in Fat City the parish lowered the number of parking spaces required from some businesses, as part of an effort to transform the area to a more pedestrian-friendly space.
The second zoning study to be possibly extended today is considering whether to impose a more restrictive commercial designation to businesses along Airline Drive, between Severn and Cleary avenues. The change would rezone properties designated as C-2, or general commercial, to a C-1 designation for neighborhood commercial.
The C-1 classification would limit the size of commercial properties to 25,000 square feet and prohibit certain uses, such as opening a bar. The C-2 designation doesn't have those restrictions. If any changes are recommended, existing uses would be grandfathered in.